Habberley Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Pontesbury.
In the historic county of Shropshire.
Modern Authority of Shropshire.
1974 county of Shropshire.
Medieval County of Shropshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ397036
Latitude 52.62688° Longitude -2.89160°

Habberley Hall has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

At Habberley Hall there is a possible site of a castle (Hogg and King).
There are no traces of a castle site at Habberley Hall, nor is the tradition of one known to Dr Hamp, who has lived here many years.
Habberley Hall (nameplate confirms) at SJ 39740361, is a half-timbered private residence of H-plan design, dated 1593. It is of two storeys with gabled attics, the floors jettied one above the other. 18th century dormer windows have been let into the red-tiled roofs, but the brick chimneys are ornamental originals. To the south is a 19th century addition, and to the north, a 20th century addition. The house is in fair condition (F1 ASP 18-DEC-79).

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 20 Ringworks. At Habberley Hall (PRN 13303) there is a possible site of a castle? (Hogg and King).
The medieval manor house, recorded at Habberley in 1380, would presumably have occupied the site of Habbeley Hall, for the low mound on which the house stands is likely to be a castle site, probably a ringwork (VCH 1968). (Shropshire HER)

Reputed to occupy the site of a ringwork, but there are no visible remains and no tradition of a castle here. (Jackson 1988)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1366655
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 66390.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 02836.

Books
- Jackson, M.J.,1988, Castles of Shropshire (Shrewsbury: Shropshire Libraries) p. 72 (reject)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 435 (possible)
  Gaydon, A.T. (ed), 1968, VCH Shropshire Vol. 8 p. 238, 240
  Eyton, R.W., 1858, Antiquities of Shropshire (London: John Russell Smith) Vol. 7 p. 47- (tenurial history) online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hogg, A.H.A. and King, D.J.C., 1970, 'Castles in Wales and the Marches (Additions and corrections to lists published in 1963 and 1967)' Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. 119 p. 119-124

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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